Mental Health Awareness Week - what you can do

There has been a lot written about what we can do for people suffering from mental health issues, but I always felt that the advice while good was missing something. This is my small attempt to round the advice out a little:

1. Be a Friend

This has been covered in lots of other posts - just be there for someone who may be struggling. You don’t have to be their therapist, just have a chat.

Insight: They may seem OK and happy and smiling, but they may have had to put a lot of effort into just meeting and maybe wiped out after. Don’t let this put you off, but it does link into the next point.

2. Care for a carer

This may be the husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, brother, sister or children (even adult ones) or just a friend of the one they are caring for.

They will just need to get away from it all and talk about or do something normal or offload their frustrations. Just be a friend.

Insight: They pick up the pieces on a daily basis, sometime its good, sometimes not so good. The one they care for may have met a friend (good), but now they are wiped out, or just struggling (not so good), the carer will then spend their time looking after them putting their own wellbeing to one side. Or they may be caring for someone in hospital (mental health ward) or who have just been released; both of these are stressful in their own ways.

3. Just say hello

We have all been held up at the station with the announcement ‘someone on the line’, which we all know what this actually means.

If you see someone who doesn’t seem quite there, just say ‘hello’. It may be all they need to bring them back from the brink and give a chance for those around you to get help.

Insight: I missed an opportunity to do this walking over Blackfriars Bridge one night and will always regret not stopping just to say hello.

The above is not going to solve the mental health problems of the nation, but every little bit of support will help in some way.

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With the decorations up, the last order date for Amazon nigh and most of us looking forward to at least a few days break, it’s always a good time to take stock of what’s been achieved over the last 12 months.

For AlgoMe this has been another exciting year.

January started in style with the launch of the AlgoMe Careers mobile app – giving professionals the opportunity to find their next career opportunity on the move.

Then in July we released our Industry Pulse Report – a check on what the industry was thinking about key topics such as Brexit, Pay Gap Reporting, MiFiD II and GDPR. Unfortunately it seems that the uncertainty that the industry was feeling due to Brexit is unlikely to have receded in the intervening period, but it’s good to see progress starting to be made in other areas such as gender and diversity.

In September we launched AlgoMe Community – a place for the Investment / Asset Management industry to come together, providing professionals with ways to grow their knowledge, profile and network. We’d like to say a big thank you to all of the members that have joined and contributed and look forward to continuing growth in 2019.

In November AlgoMe joined the Investment Association, becoming a Fintech member and working closely with Velocity, the Association’s new Fintech accelerator. This is a really exciting initiative and we’re looking forward to doing more with Velocity in the near future.

We also launched our Mentoring matching service in November – designed to help AlgoMe Community members connect with the best individuals within the community to help them to reach their career goals using a simple but intelligent process. If you haven’t already signed up to be a mentor or a mentee, please do spend 5 minutes now and tick off a New Year’s Resolution early.

As we go into the end of the year, we have also launched our survey on Investment Management, Fintech and the future of careers. The impact of Fintech on the industry is going to accelerate rapidly in 2019, but what has been less well documented is the impact on individuals, their careers and the skills they’ll need to succeed in a more digitised environment. We really value the input of our community members, so please spend a couple of minutes filling out the survey and we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear the results early next year.

From me and the AlgoMe team, I wish you all a very happy holiday season and look forward to another year of exciting announcements and change in 2019.

Rob

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I have always struggled to see a fair reason why employers should be allowed to ask about a potential hire’s current remuneration, other than to give them an advantage in pay negotiations.
It’s something which can only exacerbate existing pay inequalities and it’s abolishment can surely only be a positive thing.
Here the Guardian argues specifically about its impact with regards to the gender pay gap:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/23/gender-pay-gap-current-salary-question
I believe this has already been outlawed in some US states?
@Jonathan Max - would be interesting to hear the view from HR.

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The Investment Association recently gave the industry a boost when it announced the launch of Velocity, its FinTech accelerator. Designed to identify, develop and accelerate best in class firms with innovative solutions, Velocity will champion and facilitate the wider adoption of technology across the industry.

And AlgoMe will be involved in this too, which is why I’m excited to announce we are now a member organisation of the Investment Association as an official FinTech member and have been named a "company to watch" by Velocity.

Challenging Times
The Investment Management industry faces major challenges and opportunities from forces such as digital technology, pressure on fees and increased regulation, while at the same time there are widespread changes in the workforce and their expectations.

To date, Investment Management has both been fairly insulated from the challenges posed by agile FinTech competitors, but also distant from the opportunities offered by the new technologies and ways of thinking that such companies bring.

Bringing FinTech closer
Velocity is a fantastic step towards accelerating the adoption of FinTech. It has received support and endorsements from both inside and outside the industry, including from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Phillip Hammond, who was enthusiastic about the initiative at a recent City event.

To drive change and innovation, the industry needs to connect across different disciplines and areas of expertise, driving new ways of thinking and fostering cultural change.

Without the benefit of emerging FinTechs and their external expertise, it will be hard for incumbents to harness the benefits of emerging technologies such as Straight Through deal Processing (STP), Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in areas such as risk and compliance, securities trading and investment decision making.

Our Mission
AlgoMe's mission is to connect the Investment Management industry and empower professionals to manage their careers. Our new product, AlgoMe Community, is placed to become the hub for the discussion between FinTechs and the companies and professionals in the wider Investment Management ecosystem.

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Related Content

'Be ready to think about the 10-15 year view of the industry and be a part of that change'. Many other insights from this recent interview he gave to the Square Mile:
1) Mass personalisation of investments & tokenisation to increase accessibility and liquidity
2) Portfolios of the future will be a blend of public and private investments. Public companies are shrinking/consolidating. There is much potential to unlock in the private space
3) Sustainable investing and ESG funds will grow in demand as next generation of investors will want their money to go further to make more positive societal impacts
4) Diversity of thought is business-critical - solving problems is best done in a more diverse group
5) Mental Health in the city is bigger problem than anticipated. We need to foster a culture (top-down) where it is ok to talk about it and support each other

For those of you who would love to read another Brexit related article... here is are some of the latest updates- including an interesting update with respect to the temporary permissions regime published in the Netherlands! With less than two months to go until the UK leaves the EU, there has been a lot of recent Brexit related developments in the financial services industry, some of which we look at below.

THE TEMPORARY PERMISSIONS REGIME
UK Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) has pushed ahead with its “no deal” planning and has opened its Temporary Permissions Regime (“TPR”) notification window to EEA asset management firms and to investment funds marketing in the UK. The TPR will allow firms currently passporting into the UK to continue new and existing regulated business within the scope of their current permissions in the UK for a limited period, while they seek full FCA authorisation, if the UK leaves the EU on “exit day” (11pm on 29 March 2019) without an implementation period in place. It will also allow certain funds to continue temporarily marketing in the UK on the basis of current European marketing passports and rights, with no need for a hiatus before they are able to comply with UK marketing regimes.

The FCA has said that firms should not wait for confirmation of whether there will be an implementation period before they submit their TPR notification, as firms and investment funds that have not submitted a notification within the notification window will not be able to use the regime.

All notifications must be made by the FCA’s Connect online system. The FCA has published a guide for the Connect online system available here.
The notification window remains open until 28 March 2019. There will not be a fee for making a notification under the TPR.

THE FINANCIAL SERVICES CONTRACTS REGIME REGULATIONS
On 8 January 2019, the FCA published a consultation paper, CP19/2, which sets out details of the financial services contracts regime (“FSCR”) and the rules the FCA proposes should apply to firms during the regime. The consultation closed on 29 January 2019.

The FSCR Regulations aim to further reduce the risk of harm associated with an abrupt loss of permission on exit day. This ensures that EEA passporting firms can still fulfil their existing contractual obligations in the UK for a limited period of time, even if they are outside the TPR following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, provided that firms must satisfy the conditions of the FSCR. This legislation will be relevant for those EEA firms which passport into the UK to carry on a regulated activity who fail to notify the FCA that they wish to enter the TPR or are unsuccessful in securing authorisation at the end of it, but still have regulated business in the UK to run off.

Firms will fall into one of two categories under the FSCR: being supervised run-off (“SRO”)for EEA firms with UK branches or top-up permissions in the UK, and firms who entered the temporary permissions regime but did not secure a UK authorisation at the end, andcontractual run-off (“CRO”) for remaining incoming services firms.
The SRO will apply to the following firms:
- firms currently operating in the UK via a branch;
- firms who enter the TPR but exit without securing full UK authorisation; and
- firms that currently hold top-up permissions.

As it is the case for firms in the TPR, SRO firms will be deemed to have Part 4A permission for carrying out activities within the scope of their passport as at exit day, to the extent necessary to continue to service pre-existing contracts in the UK. Unlike the TPR, no notification is required for this deemed permission to arise; it will apply automatically. Details of SRO firms will be shown on the Financial Services Register.

The FCA's powers over SRO firms under FSMA will continue to apply; however, the FCA will also cover certain matters which were previously handled by the firms’ home state. In addition, SRO firms will be required to maintain their home-state authorisation in order to benefit from the regime.
The CRO will apply to firms operating in the UK solely on a services basis (i.e. without a UK branch) that do not enter the TPR and have pre-existing contracts in the UK which would otherwise require a permission in order to service.

CRO firms will be treated as exempt persons and will not be UK authorised. Similarly to the SRO, this exempt status will allow firms to perform regulated activities within the scope of their passport as at exit day to the extent necessary to continue to service pre-existing contracts in the UK after exit day.
The FSCR will apply for a maximum of 5 years for all contracts, except for insurance contracts which will have a maximum of 15 years. The Treasury may extend these periods, if necessary, based on a joint assessment by the FCA and the PRA.

THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS ACT 2000 (AMENDMENT EU EXIT) REGULATIONS
At the end of 2018, HM Treasury has published a draft version of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Amendment EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (the “SI”). The SI makes a number of amendments to the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“FSMA”) to ensure that the financial services framework continues to operate effectively once the UK leaves the EU, in any scenario. However, the SI is not intended to make substantive policy changes. The amendments to FSMA are set out in part 2 of the Regulations; with regard to FMSA, HM Treasury has highlighted particularly that amendments are being made to:
- regulated and prohibited activities (Part 2);
- permission to carry on regulated activities (Part 4A);
- performance of regulated activities (Part 5);
- control of business transfers (Part 7);
- control over authorised persons (Part 12); and
- provision of financial services by members of the professions (Part 20).

Please click here to view the explanatory information and the draft instrument.

TEMPORARY PERMISSION REGIME PUBLISHED IN THE NETHERLANDS
An amendment to current Dutch legislation was published on 4 February 2019 which allows investment firms from the United Kingdom to continue to provide investment services to professional clients in the Netherlands in a no-deal Brexit scenario.

Under an existing third country exemption regime (following from article 10 Exemption Regulation FSA) investment firms based in Australia, the United States of America and Switzerland are exempted from the MiFID licence obligation if they (i) exclusively provide investment services to per se professional clients or deal on own account; and (ii) are subject to regulatory supervision in their home state.

This regime is amended to temporarily expand the exemption to investment firms based in the UK. The Dutch temporary permission regime (“Dutch TPR”) will enter into effect if and when the UK leaves the European Union without a deal and it is expected to last until 01 January 2021.

The Dutch TPR is relevant for investment firms with their registered office in the UK that wish to continue providing investment services to per se professional clients or dealing on their own account in the Netherlands post-Brexit. The Dutch TPR is also of interest to Dutch firms being serviced by UK investment firms as it avoids disruption of current servicing.

Firms wish to pursue this option, they should submit a notification form to the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets.

NEXT STEPS
Preparing for Brexit is challenging- particularly as a result of the uncertainty over what type of deal the UK may be left with when the UK leaves the EU on the 29 March. However, the good news is that different European countries are now preparing for a "no deal" Brexit, with a wave of recent national legislation aiming to ensure both financial and regulatory stability. This should provide UK asset managers with additional time and flexibility to adapt to this new regulatory landscape.

For more information, and any guidance or advice on the impact on Brexit, Cleveland & Co, your external in-house counsel, are here to help- let us know what you think and if you have any queries!

DISCLAIMER
No individual who is a member, partner, shareholder, director, employee or consultant of, in or to any constituent part of Cleveland & Co Associates Limited accepts or assumes responsibility, or has any liability, to any person in respect of this document. Copyright in the materials is owned by Cleveland & Co Associates Limited and the materials should not be copied or disclosed to any other person without the express authorisation of Cleveland & Co Associates Limited. This document is not intended to give legal advice and, accordingly, it should not be relied upon. It should not be regarded as a comprehensive statement of the law and practice in this area. Readers must take specific legal advice on any particular matter which concerns them. If you require any advice or information, please speak to your usual contact at Cleveland & Co Associates Limited.

Today is Time to Talk Day 2019, an initiative designed to encourage everyone to talk about mental health. We all know people that have been impacted by mental health issues of varying degrees, so initiatives like this are very positive.

It's World Mental Health Day today - can anyone share initiatives in their companies they are aware of? There are some interesting programmes as featured in the UK Finance story here
Workplace wellbeing on World Mental Health Day
WWW.UKFINANCE.ORG.UK
Written by: Poppy Jaman, CEO of Mental Health First Aid England Each year around ten million adults in the UK will experience mental ill health, meaning one in four of us will experience a mental health issue at some point in our lifetime. Over the past year, awareness of mental health has
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According to the charity Mind, Mental health problems can affect anyone. This year, World Mental Health Day falls on October 10 and the theme is Workplace Wellbeing…something which AlgoMe is very passionate about.

While October 10 may be a designated day to show solidarity and support for better mental health, it’s also a timely reminder to start looking after your own wellbeing and think more broadly about your colleagues in the long term. Stress costs companies an average of £9,000 per employee each year so it makes sense to think about investing in wellness programmes to counterbalance stress and avoid long term issues where possible.

Asset Management and Financial Services professionals employees are not immune to mental illness or burn out. The high-profile case of Lloyds Banking Group, CEO, Horta-Osório having to take time out to deal with stress has been well documented and well received. He was quoted as saying “It almost broke me.” in a recent interview with The Times but he has talked through it extensively, and this should hopefully divest some of the stigma surrounding any form of mental illness in the workplace.

There are some great platforms and apps available to help people manage stress in the workplace. Here are three great examples the AlgoMe team has chosen which are great wellness in the workplace tools, and like us use data and algorithms to help people get on with their professional lives:

Unmind
Umind is aimed at the workplace and wellbeing. It has curated a toolbox of evidenced-based interventions for employees to utilise in times of need. It’s very clever stuff and uses data and algorithms to support people. Mindfulness, breathing exercises, stretching and more can be accessed in just a few clicks. Unmind also provides realtime support or can signpost an EAP provider if required. According to its data 92% of employees using Unmind have reported an improvement in their wellbeing. Now that’s something we think is incredibly useful.

ThriveGlobal
We live in an always “on” world and the boundaries between work and personal life are blurred like never before. This means we are never out of reach and always accessible through our smartphones and devices. ThriveGlobal is a company which has developed a portfolio of apps and podcasts which help people help unplug, recharge, and set boundaries in their relationship with technology. Silo is one of these apps which helps control – instead of being controlled by – the technology in your life. By selectively blocking distractions, alerts, and notifications on your phone, Silo allows you to reclaim space in your life for focus, creativity, and truly connecting with the world, those around you, and yourself – a must for the digitally overloaded professional!

BioBeats
BioBeats is another company we love which is using AI for healthy living. The company has developed software which uses artificial intelligence (AI), algorithms and software, based on evidence-based stress management, to target wellbeing in the workplace. It means users are able to understand how their body and mind respond to stress and how it affects them in their work and personal life. The constant feedback loop can have a positive impact on wellbeing.

Wellbeing in the workplace is obviously not just limited to apps and technology. Mental health charity Mind has put together a schedule of events themed around Workplace Wellbeing. If you would like to find out more about courses available, check out Mind.org.